"We like to look at music as sounds transcending into little waves of love that can light up our way and point out the direction". This is the philosophy of Pär Hagström and Jenny Roos from Gothemburg who both sing and use vintage equipment including pump organs, strings, bells and "things you can hit that don't have a name". Everything is recorded in analogue at their home studio in Sweden.
Their first album in 2011 was a largely acoustic affair and entitled We Know Exactly Where We Are Going. In between they have been working on music for a play at the Saarland State Theatre in Germany.
This side project comes as no surprise since, far from being a stripped back sound, their songs have an epic theatrical flavour with an orchestral sweep where individual instruments are hard to identify.
They conjure dramatic images of stormy seas, mountain peaks, black skies, strong wind and heavy rain which I take to be metaphors for turbulent emotions and striving for intense experiences.
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Conversations with God (Talking Low) and contemplating what will happen when we leave this universe (We'll Whistle So) are examples of the grandiose themes.
The lyrics are, to say the least, eccentric. In A Heart For Gold, Pär complains of "a weight on my tongue" and make what you will of lines from the closing track Ennui: "and all those cheerful seconds slip through my hands like nails upon a silver mirror like napalm in the brain".
Full marks for originality and passion but finding a way into this maelstrom of mixed metaphors and weighty subject matter isn't easy.
They may know where they're going but I wonder how many listeners will share their confidence.
Next Stop:Horizon's website
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